Andrés de Claramonte facts for kids
Andrés de Claramonte y Corroy (born around 1580 in Murcia, died September 19, 1626) was a famous writer of plays during Spain's Golden Age. This was a time when Spanish art and literature were at their best.
Not much is known about Andrés de Claramonte's life. He worked as an actor for important theater groups. As a playwright, he wrote exciting dramas with a grand, epic style. He was very good at creating amazing visual and theatrical effects on stage.
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Andrés de Claramonte's Main Plays
Five of Claramonte's plays are very well-known and definitely written by him. These are: Deste agua no beberé, El nuevo rey Gallinato, La infelice Dorotea, El secreto en la mujer, and El valiente negro en Flandes.
Deste agua no beberé
This play is a tense story about honor. It features King Pedro I, who was known as both "the cruel" and "the just." The king decides to stay at a castle, even though he has a bad feeling about it. The castle belongs to a man named don Gutierre.
Don Gutierre's wife, Mencía, asks the king to spend the night. The king boldly enters her bedroom and offers to kill her husband so she can become queen. Mencía refuses him. This makes the king's cruel side come out. He tries many ways to dishonor and kill her. Unlike most honor plays, this one ends happily. The king sees his mistakes and brings Gutierre and Mencía back together.
El nuevo rey Gallinato
This play is famous because it's one of the few plays from the Golden Age that includes a trip to America. Some experts have also noticed that the geography in the play is a bit mixed up. It combines places from America and Asia in a confusing way.
La infelice Dorotea
La infelice Dorotea tells the sad story of Garcinuñez, Dorotea, and Fernando. Garcinuñez is upset from the start because of a Moor's prediction. This prediction is like magical words written on a wall. Experts say this play is about predictions from stars, how luck can change, and how justice works out in the end.
El secreto en la mujer
Bad feelings about the future are also important in El secreto en la mujer. In this play, a character named Lelio breaks three rules his father gave him. This leads him straight to a terrible fate.
El valiente negro en Flandes
El valiente negro en Flandes is the play by Claramonte that people talk about the most. It shows the bravery of a black slave. Some scholars have studied how this play connects to Afro-Hispanic swordsmen (people of African descent who were skilled with swords).
Other Plays by Claramonte
A less-known play by Claramonte is El Gran rey de los desiertos, San Onofre (The great king of the deserts, Saint Onuphrius). This play is similar to another famous play called El Condenado por desconfiado.
In 2008, a scholar named Alejandro Garcia Reidy found a play by Claramonte that had never been published. It's called Las dos columnas de San Carlos. This play tells the story of Charles Borromeo's life. What's special about it is that Martin Luther appears as a character in the very first scene.
What Critics Think About Claramonte
In the past, a Spanish scholar named Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo didn't think highly of Claramonte. But today, experts have started to look at his work differently. Scholars like Alfredo Rodriguez Lopez-Vazquez, Charles V. Ganelin, Frederick A. de Armas, and Fernando Cantalapiedra Erostarbe have helped change this view. Some of them even believe that Claramonte wrote some of the most important plays of the Spanish Golden Age.
For a long time, the play The Star of Seville was thought to be written by Lope de Vega. But in 1931, Sturgis E. Leavitt suggested that Claramonte actually wrote it. About 60 years later, in 1992, a meeting about the play helped people in the United States rethink who wrote it. A book based on these findings was published in 1996.
Another play, The Trickster of Seville, was traditionally believed to be by Tirso de Molina. However, many experts now think Claramonte wrote it. Alfredo Rodrigues Lopez-Vazquez has led this idea. His published version of the play has changed how many critics see it.
See also
In Spanish: Andrés de Claramonte para niños
